Why Melania Will Grit Her Perfect Teeth and Weather Trump’s X Storm

Outside my Washington office, there is a photograph of the Slovenian Sphinx visiting the Egyptian Sphinx, taken during a 2018 photo shoot in Giza, nine months after Melania Trump was blindsided by the hot news about her husband and Stormy Daniels. The couple evokes Melania’s enigma: How much can she tolerate from a husband who betrayed and humiliated her in the lowest possible way?

When Donald Trump’s secret trial begins, we will remember what a scoundrel he is. And like Hillary before her, Melania will have to hold her head up high while she stands next to the Lothario of hers. Melania will also put political and personal perspectives before mere resentment. (She doesn’t want Donald to be broke and imprisoned.)

As her White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in her memoir, Melania did not want comparisons to Hillary Clinton. When the Other Women stories emerged, Melania told Grisham that she wanted to drive to Air Force One before Trump.

“I don’t want to be like Hillary Clinton, you know what I mean?” Melania said, according to Grisham. She “walked to Marine One hand in hand with her husband after Monica’s news, and she didn’t look good.”